The northern checkpoints: the huge wall is closing in on all the barriers

Place:

'Anin

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Tags:

Northern checkpoints

Walls and Blockades

Observers:

Hagar D.M. (Photographs), Neta Golan Marcia L., Translation

Leave this field blank

May-31-2023

Afternoon

The concrete wall at the Aanin checkpoint is progressing

Photo:

Hagar Dror

The Tal Menashe settlement is expanding

Photo:

Hagar Dror

16.15 – 14.30

14:30 – Anin Checkpoint

Although the checkpoint opened only at 16:00, (there is really no definite hour)’ three tractors and people already finished their work and wait under the trees. We were told that this morning, about 100 people left the checkpoint to work.

The work to seal the fence by building a high wall is in progress. The wall gets longer and hides the landscape and Anin village.

From the checkpoint, we observed and saw the great expansion of the Tel Menashe settlement.

Barta’a Checkpoint

Although the shooting event yesterday in the area (the settlement of Hermesh), the atmosphere around the checkpoint is routine. Residents of East Barta’a’ and young people who work the second shift, pass through from the West Bank to the Seamline Zone, and hundreds of workers who work in Israel, from the Seamline Zone return to the West Bank.

We hear complaints from workers that in the mornings there are problems with the magnetic cards. One of those who crosses the checkpoint told us that this morning, he crossed at about 06:00, but returned for a few minutes because he forgot his keys. When he returned, a red light went off and he was prevented from crossing. Only at 08:00, when the pressure lessened, those who work at the checkpoint allowed him to cross. According to his complaint, “Only at Barta’a Checkpoint are there problems with magnetic cards.”

In a conversation with the Deputy Commander of the checkpoint, he made it clear that there is an assigned time on every worker’s magnetic card when entrance is allowed. If the worker arrives at another time, he has to wait until 08:00; only then, those who run the checkpoint allow him to pass

Tura Checkpoint

Conducted as usual. Workers from the West Bank leave the checkpoint with their belts in their hands (after a body inspection) for the second shift in Umm al Fahm. Workers return from Israel and the Seamline Zone and complain, as usual, about the late hour the checkpoint opens in the morning (at 07:00).

Location Description

Anin agricultural checkpoint

See all reports for this place

located on the Separation Fence east of the Israeli community Mei Ami and close to the village of Anin in the West Bank. It is opened twice a week, morning and afternoon, for periods of time that are growing shorter Lith time. It is meant for Anin farmers whose olive groves have been separated from the village by the fence. Transit permits are only issued to those who can produce ownership documents for their caged-in land, and sometimes only to the head of the family or his widow, eldest son and children. At times the inheritors lose their right to tend to the family’s land. The permits are eked out and are re-issued only with difficulty. 55-year old persons may cross the checkpoint (into Israel) without special permits. During the olive harvest season (about one month around October) the checkpoint is open every day and more transit permits are issued. Names of persons eligible to cross are held in the soldiers’ computers. In July 2007, a sweeping instruction was issued according to which whoever does not return to the village through this checkpoint in the afternoon will be stripped of his transit permit when he shows up there next time. Since 2019, the checkpoint has not been allways locked with the seam-line zone gate (1 of 3 gates info-icon ), and the fence around it has been broken in several sites.

Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

See all reports for this place

This is a fabric of life* checkpoint through which pedestrians, cabs and private cars (since 2008) pass to and from the West Bank and the Seam-line Zone to and from the industrical zone near the settler-colony Shaked, schools and kindergartens, and Jenin university campuses. The checkpoint is located between Tura village inside the West Bank and the village of Dahar Al Malah inside the enclave of the Seam-line Zone. It is opened twice a day, between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., and from 12 noon to 7 p.m. People crossing it (at times even kindergarten children) are inspected in a bungalow with a magnometer. Names of those allowed to cross it appear in a list held by the soldiers. Usually traffic here is scant.

fabric of life roads and checkpoints, as defined by the Terminals Authority in the Ministry of Defense (fabric of life is a laundered name that does not actually describe any kind of humanitarian purpose) are intended for Palestinians only. These roads and checkpoints have been built on lands appropriated from their Palestinian owners, including tunnels, bypass roads, and tracks passing under bridges. Thus traffic can flow between the West Bank and its separated parts that are not in any kind of territorial contiguity with it. Mostly there are no permanent checkpoint on these roads but rather ‘flying’ checkpoints, check-posts or surprise barriers. At Toura, a small (less than one dunam) and sleepy checkpoint has been established, which has filled up with the years with nearly .every means of supervision and surveillance that the Israeli military occupation has produced. (February 2020)

Mar-22-2022

Ruti Tuval

The locked gate at the Anin checkpoint

View the full album

Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint

See all reports for this place

This checkpoint is located on the Separation Fence route, east of the Palestinian town of East Barta’a. The latter is the largest Palestinian community inside the seam-line zone (Barta’a Enclave) in the northern West Bank. Western Barta’a, inside Israel, is adjacent to it. The Checkpoint is open all week from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Since mid-May 2007, the checkpoint has been managed by a civilian security company subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. People permitted to cross through this checkpoint into and from the West Bank are residents of Palestinian communities inside the Barta’a Enclave as well as West Bank Palestinian residents holding transit permit. Jewish settlers from Hermesh and Mevo Dotan cross here without inspection. A large, modern terminal is active here with 8 windows for document inspection and biometric tests (eyes and fingerprints). Usually only one or two of the 8 windows are in operation. Goods, up to medium commercial size, may pass here from the West Bank into the Barta’a Enclave. A permanent registered group of drives who have been approved by the may pass with farm produce. When the administration of the checkpoint was turned over to a civilian security firm, the Ya’abad-Mevo Dotan Junction became a permanent checkpoint. . It is manned by soldiers who sit in the watchtower and come down at random to inspect vehicles and passengers (February 2020).